Christmas wrap serendipity background paper

In the last few days when I was searching for paper for a different project I found this small sheet of serendipity which I had created using Christmas gift wrap a few years ago.  I decided that I would make Christmas cards with it.  I was able to die cut three 2.25" circle from it using my Nestibilities - Classic Circles.  I love the look of the gold embossed script over the red and green collage.  I cut three little squares of gold cardstock, trimmed the bottom edge with my scallop scissors and rounded the top two corners by hand which created perfect little ornament toppers.  I overlapped them over the edge of the circle and taped them into place from the back to create my ornaments.  I decided to use an embossed background so I started by stamping Merry Christmas on the bottom section of a white quarter sheet of cardstock with pigment ink and embossing it with gold embossing powder.  I wanted the thermally embossed section to not be dry embossed so I embossed the top portion by lining up the edge of the embossing folder (SU - Decorative Dots) just above the greeting and ran it through my Big Shot.  I removed the cardstock and then positioned the embossing folder below the greeting and ran it through the Big Shot again.  Love how that turned out!!  I found this red/gold ribbon in my stash which really complimented the colours of the the ornament and decided to use it at the top of this layer.  I started by positioning my ornament and drawing in the little wire loop and the string with a fine tip Sharpie so both edges would end up under the other elements.  I adhered the ornament above the greeting and over the wire loop and then positioned the ribbon just below the top of the cardstock layer and glued both ends to the back side with double sided tape.  With this layer complete I glued it to the front of a green card.  I like the artsy simplicity of these cards.
So I have three more to add to my Christmas card stash!!  Total:  9

Therese

Cards for kids!

 My daughter was looking for kids birthday cards with french greetings so I offered to make some for her.  I decided to use a variety of graphics from Melonheadz Illustrating for images on all the cards.  She has a good selection and lots of cute ones for kids.  I laser printed the images I chose in black on white cardstock and after choosing some decorative papers I also colour printed some coordinating greetings using a variety of fonts.  I cut apart all the images and the greetings.  

Here's how I created these:  I started by choosing an image, then a decorative paper that I thought would work well and then a greeting that coordinated.  At my workspace, I decided how I would put together these elements by just playing with them until I got some inspiration.  I started by choosing a card base that coordinated with the paper and then decided how the decorative paper would be used on the card.  Some were scraps so they did not fully cover the front so I just went with it and found a layout that worked.  For the first two (above) I used a cute butterfly image.  I watercoloured them to coordinate with the decorative paper and layered them with a coordinating cardstock.  For the pink one, I layered the image with gray and left cardstock on the bottom of the image, trimmed it with scallop decorative scissors and then used a push pin to pierce each scallop.  I also used the scallop scissors on the top edge of the decorative paper.  I trimmed my greeting, added a double ribbon on the left hand side after punching it with the ribbon border punch.  I flagged the right hand side and then mounted in to gray cardstock as well and trimmed it to have an even border all the way around.  I adhered my image to the card front with 3D foam tape and then glued my greeting in the same manner.    For the right hand card, I used two pieces of coordinating decorative paper and glued them side by side on a green card front.  Layered my watercoloured image with green cardstock and adhered it to the card front using double sided tape.  I layered the greeting with both green and peach then trimmed it to have an even border all the way around.  I still needed a bit of something so I added a 3D embellishment that featured a handmade paper flower with a pearly peach button in the middle.  I adhered it with a glue dot to keep the thickness of this element to a minimum.  

Above, the card on the left features that cute little butterfly as well.  I glued my two pieces of decorative paper to my pink card front, added a strip of dark pink cardstock which I had cut on both sides with the scallop decorative scissors and pierced in the scallops which also featured a length of yellow satin ribbon through its center.  I layered the image with green and yellow and the greeting with the same dark pink leaving a even border all the way around.  I did add a small layered flower embellishment to the lower edge of the image here as well.  For the right hand card I layered my decorative paper to black and then to the blue card front.  I tucked my greeting below the green ribbon I had added to that layer and then adhered my layered watercoloured image over the ribbon on the left hand side.  I love this cute birthday cake image!!

Above, the card on the left features three piece of decorative paper layered over a light blue card front.  I layered my watercoloured sheep image with dark brown and light blue and then adhered it to the card front using 3D foam tape.  I layered the trimmed greeting in brown and adhered it with 3D foam tape as well overlapping the image and to the lower right.   For the card on the right, I used two strips of decorative paper on a dark brown card front and added a dark brown fabric trim over the gap tucking both ends behind the paper.  I layered the little airplane image which I had watercoloured onto green cardstock and adhered it over the trim using 3D foam tape.  I layered the greeting in green as well and adhered it to the card front using 3D foam tape.  

Above,  the card on the left features the cutest little monkey!!  I layered my greeting in a gap I had cut in the decorative paper and trimmed it to its edge.  I mounted this element to a dark brown card front and added three little brown hearts to the left of my greeting.   I layered the image with two light green triangles and mounted this element to my card front above the greeting.  I love this cute tree paper with this little monkey.  I love the little bat guy too!!  I used him on the other card in combination with some orange and blue decorative paper which I cut using wave decorative scissors.  I embossed the right hand side of my blue card front, glued my decorative paper in place and then adhered my little watercoloured bat guy which is layered with yellow cardstock over where they meet.  I trimmed the greeting, added a little button embellishment and adhered this element to my card front below the image.  

Above,  the left card features a beautiful image of a basket of flowers which I watercoloured to coordinate with my decorative paper.  I mounted the image to a large rectangle of pink, trimmed the right hand side with scallop scissors, pierced all the scallops and added my flagged greeting below that.  There was just enough room in between to add a length of green satin ribbon to which I tied a short piece to simulate a bow.  I used a eyelet border punch on my decorative paper, sponged the edge a bit and glued it to a yellow card front.  I then glued my focal element over the decorative paper.  The card on the right features a cute little bee with a beautiful bow!!  I layered the watercoloured image and the greeting to a large rectangle of red and added five clear rhinestones in between.  I punched the left hand side of my cherry decorative paper with a ribbon border punch and strung some red twill tape through the slots and glued the ends to the back.  I glued my decorative paper to my dark green card front and added my focal element with 3D foam tape.  

Above,  both of these cards feature the same butterfly image watercoloured to coordinate with the card's decorative paper.  For the one on the left, I cut a hole in the decorative paper and layered the butterfly on the back.  I adhered this element to my yellow card front and added my trimmed and embellished greeting below the image.  On the right, I glued the decorative paper which I had trimmed on the right with the scallop scissors to the left hand side of the card, added my layered greeting and the trimmed greeting layer below it. 

It was totally fun to create these cards. I like that the images gives the cards a similar feel even with the wide variety of sketches, papers and colours I used to create them.  It was fun to just play and create without an agenda!! I know my daughter will appreciate having cards on hand when those birthday party invitations start rolling in!!  

Therese

Gingerbread man Christmas cards

I found six of these little gingerbread men in my stash the other day when I was digging around for something else and I decided that I would use them for my January Christmas cards.  Having been pretty relaxed last year on my commitment to making Christmas cards monthly I was more rushed than I would have liked at the end of November getting what I needed finished up so I am committing this year to making Christmas cards monthly.
I started by embellishing the little gingerbread men die cuts (SX).  I added red cardstock behind their bellies, tiny white rick rack to their arms and legs, a red ribbon tie at their necks and two tiny black brads for their eyes.  I really like they way they turned out.  Next, I dug through my stash of Christmas paper and found this one - good colour and I liked the script on it.  I found the greetings in my stash as well though I did have to trim them down and flag their ends to work for this card.  I found some wide red gros grain ribbon and decided to use it to layer beneath my greetings.  I layered the greeting to the ribbon, trimmed my ribbon on both ends and used double sided tape to adhere the square end to the back of the decorative paper.  Then I glued this large element to the front of  my red card.  I used 3D foam tape to adhere my gingerbread men to these card fronts overlapping their feet just slightly over the greeting.
So begins my stash of Christmas cards!!  I have quite a few more ideas I would like to use for my cards this year so I am looking forward to working through them and getting cards made regularly.
I do have several links to challenges on my blog (right hand just a little bit down from the top) I will be checking those out for more inspiration as well.
Are you committing to making Christmas cards monthly??  If so, leave me a comment and let me know where you are going for inspiration.

Therese

A few more cards that feature a flexible sketch

 I have finished off the last of the card kits I had sitting from my last class.  You can see here the others I created with this same sketch for this class.  I really appreciate how wonderful it is to have flexible sketches because by simply changing the papers, the images and the greetings you can make cards that are appropriate for any occasion.  You can also change the orientation of the card, the position of the ribbon, the location of the image to change up the way the cards look. 

These were fast and easy because I was using kits with identical supplies but as you can see these kits still allow a lot of flexibility and the opportunity for anyone to give the card their own twists.  

These will be channeled into my stash, donated to various causes and/or be packaged to create little gifts that I will have on hand for when the need arises.
The background for the cards on the right and left is a digital background from Free Vintage Digistamps.  

I would highly recommend that you make several kits when you make up your next few cards.  These will be available to you when you need a card as the last minute and you will find that you can easily change up the elements of a kit to provide a fresh take on a sketch when you don't make the cards up at the same time.  

Therese

Tutorial - Collaged button

I made several collaged buttons a few weeks ago and thought it would be fun to provide a tutorial to describe the process I used.  

I started with a piece of thick plastic packaging which provides a good substrate for the process and makes a sturdy button.

I used a Sizzix Circle Die to cut a circle.  In this case, I used the smallest circle which is about an inch.  For this one I used the second largest which was 1.5".  

I sanded the edge and one side with fine grit sand paper.  The edge can be a bit rough after cutting so it may need sanding to smooth it out.  Sand the roughest side of the plastic circle - generally the one that has been on the outside of the packaging which leaves the nice smooth side for the good side of your button.  The sanding will provide tooth for the glue you will use for your collage.

Apply glue to the rough side.  I used Dimensional Magic but any clear glue will do.  Spread it over the whole surface being careful to not miss any spots.  If you miss some spots you will be able to see them from the front of the button and the collage will not be adhered properly to the plastic.

For the project I am working on I needed a gold button so I applied gold foil to the back.  Here you can see that the glue is well distributed and makes contact with the foil on the whole surface.  

This foil is combined with the brown and gold paper medallion which I used on a few of my recent cards.  You can check this featured post to see if you can figure out which tasty treat this packaging has housed.  Leave me a comment with your guess!

I roughly trimmed the extra foil and applied small binder clips to the edges.  I did, in this case, include a circle punchie on the bottom side so that the clips would not damage the foil.  It is best to leave this for a few hours or over night to ensure that the glue is dry. 

Once dry, I trimmed the foil to the edge of the circle and sanded lightly from back to front to ensure a smooth edge for my button.  You will likely have to clean the front of your button as well because there will be dried glue on it.  I use my finger nail to scratch off the dried glue as to not damage the front of my button.  

Now, you can use this as a 3D embellishment in your work as it does provide a nicely finished collage element.  Consider using a tag shape instead and make a hole at top instead. 

So many possibilities!!

I marked the holes with a black sharpie marker before punching them.  I am using the standard two holes but you could certainly use four if you prefer.  If you are using yours as an embellishment you could certainly punch the holes near the edges instead and attach it to your project with brads.  

I punched these holes with a 1/16" hole punch.  I used a 1/8" punch on the larger buttons I created.  

Use whatever size suit your purpose. 

Here is my button used on my project.  I layered it over a teal fabric circle and then onto a scalloped circle of sheer gold fabric.  It was exactly what I wanted!!

So I hope you will find this tutorial helpful.  I had been finding that adding buttons to my paper crafting and small fabric projects meant that I had to apply extra postage to send them on their way. 

These buttons have less dimension and therefore do not incur that cost.  The fact that they are artsy and fun is also very cool.  I love that I can make them to suit any project I am working on.  I can certainly see making some that would be used as 3D embellishments instead and be attached to my project in a different way instead of the holes which makes these ones buttons.  

A bonus is that most of the supplies for this project you likely have in your stash!!

Enjoy!  Please feel free to leave a comment if you have enjoyed the tutorial or if you have made up some collaged buttons!!

Therese

Cards created from kits from my last class

I have decided to make up all the card kits I had left over from my last class to augment my stash, to be available for donation to various causes and to make up sets as little gifts which I can use over the year.  I usually prep these gifts at the last minute and I am always in a hurry.  Having them already made up will provide less stress and allow me to provide variety in my cards.
You can check our the cards I made at the class here. 

 I laser printed funky flowers, a leaf, daisies, balloons, a birthday cake, a tulip and a dress. Combined them with decorative paper, a layer of cardstock, some seam binding or ribbon and a strip that was border punched with an eyelet punch (SU). As you can see I varied the papers, the position of the seam binding and even which side the image was placed to vary the cards I made with these identical kits. One is missing the border because I found that card to be better without it.

It is nice to have a few all occasion cards in your stash because they are appropriate for several celebrations and recipients.

These were really fun to make up and makes me really appreciate the speed of cardmaking when a person works with kits rather than starting from scratch.


Therese

Fabric postcard with a butterfly embellishment

This is my second January postcard for the birthday club on my Fabric Postcard group.  We need to have our postcards out to our partners for them to arrive for their birthdays so I needed to get them made as early in December as possible to avoid the Christmas rush both here at home and in the postal system.  I started with small precut scraps and stitched them together to get two rows.  Last time, I did not measure right away and found later that I was short just a bit so I measured and again needed just a bit so I added a strip of brown between the the rows.  I like this option much better.  I decided to use this butterfly applique so I cut out a scallop circle using my Nestibilities out of mottled yellow fabric to which I had already added fusible webbing.  It did not cut as neatly as I had hoped but that was probably because I had not lined up my cutting plate quite right.  I applied my adhesive backed applique to the circle using my iron over some release paper because I had already applied the fusible webbing to the circle.  Before  applying it to the front of the postcard I decided to see what I might want to add as embellishment.  I added a layer of interfacing and then some batting to the back before I stitched down both sides of the middle strip and adding some free motion stitching to the pieces on both sides.  I thought the strip needed a bit more embellishment so I added a piece of orange rick rack and hand stitched it in place with green thread.  It still needed a bit of something but I thought maybe I would work on that after I had added my focal element.  I positioned my scallop circle and applied heat with my iron until it fused to the postcard front.  Next, I added red seed beads to each scallop using yellow thread.  It still needed a bit of something so I added faux stitching with a fine tip permanent marker using a Nestie circle as a guide.  That was much better.  Next, I revisited my rick rack and decided to add red seed beads to each dip and then three french knots above each one.  I am really happy with how that worked out.  I have seen all sorts of wonderful stitching combined with rick rack to create wonderful embellishments on projects.  I should have stamped on my light square before applying my focal element but I forgot.  So I decided to stamp "celebrate" several times and then added the "life" lower.  I used green permanent ink and I am happy with how it turned out.  I added a white backing fabric which I fused to the batting.  Unfortunately, the dark bobbin thread shows through the white but it was fused in place and I was not able to undo it.  I will have to remember to change my bobbin thread to coordinate with the batting next time.  It is a learning curve!!  I trimmed all the layers to 4" x 6" and then added an off white bias tape to the edge.  I am looking forward to learning more about these little art projects and trying some new techniques as I work on birthday postcards this year.  

Scrappy background with a star embellishment

 This is the final card I made with the scrappy backgrounds I created a few weeks ago.  I cut the piece I had into three both ways and glued them equidistant from each other on a kraft card front.  I stamped over all with my stipple stamp (SU) with brown ink which works to unify all the pieces with the card.  I positioned a length of brown twill tape near the middle and tucked a stamped greeting below it and used my sewing machine to stitch both of them into place.  The greeting looked a little plain so I stippled it as well with brown ink.  My focal point is a 3D embellishment which features an punchie star, a scalloped circle and another of those brown and gold paper medallions!!!  You can see here, here and here the other cards that feature these medallions.  Anyone know what tasty treat was housed in them?  Click on the my FEATURED POST on the upper right hand side or click this link and leave me a comment!!  This card is going into my stash.

Therese

Artsy backgrounds with layered 3D embellishments

 These cards are for my monthly card exchange and I was looking to use some backgrounds from my stash!  This first card uses a piece of beautiful junk mail that I saved a while back.  It features a large leaf in this deep autumnal red.  I cut out the wording and taped the two pieces together.  I auditioned my focal element which was all ready to go and thought it needed a bit of something so I embossed it with Decorative Dots embossing folder (SU).  That was good but still not quite it, so I sanded the dots and that was better but still not perfect, so I sponged some of the areas with orange ink and that was just what it needed.  Perfect!! I cut two thin strips of brown cardstock and laid one over the joint in the paper and the other about a 1/4" below it.  I used double sided tape to adhere them to the background and trimmed the ends to the edges.  I glued the background element to a dark brown card front and then used 3D foam tape to adhere the focal element over them.  The focal element was fun to create.  I started by making a collaged button using clear plastic, a stamped greeting and a decorative paper punchie like I did for this card.  Once it was dry I could not convince myself to punch holes to make it a button so I used it as it was.  I layered it onto a scallop punchie (SU) in gold, then onto a brown & gold texured paper circle and then onto a flower (TH) die cut from hand decorated paper.  I really like the look of this card with all of its handmade charm.  If you know the source of the brown and gold paper medallion I have used for this card check my featured post on the top right hand side of my blog and leave me a comment!!

For my second card I created another funky focal element.  I started with a "be happy" punchie from my stash which I glued to a scallop punchie which I modified with watercolour to coordinate with the orange from the larger scalloped circle.  I layered that onto a collage button which was less than stellar after it was dry and needed to used more subtly.  I layered that onto a scalloped punchie of colourful decorative paper and then to another one of those brown and gold paper medallions. (Look forward to your comments!)  This time I snipped the edge to create little petals and then snipped those twice to make little flagged ends to finish off my embellishement.  I chose this wild background which I created a while back using spray inks, my hot glue stencils and photo paper.  A really fun technique!!  I added a wide navy organza ribbon with a thin yellow satin ribbon over it to my background and then glued it to the front of an orange card.  I tied a short piece of yellow ribbon to the one on the card to simulate a bit of a bow and used 3D foam tape to secure my focal element to my card front.
So these will be off to my swap partners in tomorrow's mail!!

Therese

Scrappy background with a handmade button

I had some inspiration over night to create some collaged buttons!!  I started with some thick plastic packaging and die cut a 1.5" circle using a Sizzix circle die.  I sanded the edges and one side then applied some clear glue and laid the HAPPY word (stamped on kraft tissue) down just below the middle.  I applied glue to the back of the tissue and added a 1 3/8' punchie made from hand decorated paper in red.  I applied glue to the back of that and added a layer of scrapbook paper, trimmed it roughly and applied pressure to make sure all the surfaces were in contact then added binder clips all around the edges to keep them together until the glue dried.  What fun!!  A collaged handmade button!!  I trimmed the paper to the edge of the plastic, sanded the edges to even them up and sponged the edges with brown ink to integrate them into the colour scheme.  I punched two holes in the middle to finish off the button.  I glued it to the center of a rosette of paper in brown and gold and added a brown/gold ribbon tie.  To add texture I snipped the outside edge and cut each petal diagonally on the end to create a pattern.  Really like how that turned out.  I used another of these paper rosettes on this card.   Anyone have a guess as to where these rosettes of brown and gold came from?  I will add a hint on my original post!!
I trimmed my scrappy background in two and then cut one of the resulting pieces in four to create the square background for my card.  I glued those four pieces to an off white piece of cardstock, added some fiber trim and ribbon and stamped my greeting below that in brown.  I used my sewing machine and brown thread to sew all those elements in place, then glued this large element to a red card front.  I used the same ribbon on the card front as I had used in the button to tie them together visually and tied a short piece on the front to simulate a bow.  I used 3D foam tape to add my button to the middle of my background.  Loving the look of the artsy cards I have created so far this year!!!
I have more buttons on the go!  This may become one of my go to projects for "Art Every Day" which will likely only happen weekly with the kind of schedule I have so they may get a blog post of their own.
Hope you are setting some art goals for yourself and I hope you will leave a comment and share what yours are!!

Therese

A fun card with a star theme!

I made this card for a friend who has a birthday soon!!  I started with a collage scrap paper background I made a while back.  I used the other half for this card.   I added some burnt orange cardstock to the back then added a piece of brown vintage seam binding to the upper portion adhering both ends to the back using double sided tape.  I tied on a short length to simulate a bow.  I added my layered focal element over the seam binding to the left of the "bow". I created the focal element by layering a brown and gold textured circle of paper below a gold round punchie which was die cut with a star.  I also snipped the edges of the paper circle to give it a bit more texture.  To create the star accent I punched two circles (1.25"), layered them and used a star die (SX) to cut out the star from the center of them   I then layered the silver star in the gold punchie for this card.  I have a gold star in a silver punchie to use on another card.  I layered this whole element onto a beige card front which I had altered with some sponging and stippling with dark brown ink.  I added a layered laser printed greeting which I created using a window punchie (SU) and an orange modern label punchie (SU).
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Can you guess what the brown paper circle was before it became part of the focal element for this card???? Leave me a comment with your guess!!  I will be checking regularly and will leave a few hints if it takes too long for you guys to guess.  
Looking forward to your guesses!!!
January 11 - Thanks to CraftyD for her guess!!  A cupcake liner is close but not quite there.  Here is a hint - it has housed a tasty treat!!
January 18 - Just wanted you all to know that I have posted a collage button tutorial and it uses another of the items that housed this tasty treat!!  You can check out the tutorial and the other item here.
January 22 - Sylvia has correctly guessed!!  It is the paper wrapper from Ferraro Rocher chocolates!! Needless to say, I have a little collection from Christmas!!
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Thanks to everyone for taking the time to leave a comment.

Therese

Last of the Christmas Thank you cards

These are the last of my Christmas thank you cards!  They feature a wonderful snowflake patterned gift wrap in red and white which I also used on this card.  The mitten was a 3D embellishment off of an ATC and the poinsettia was trimmed from an ATC layer. I used a spare vellum greeting from this set of cards for the first one along with a punched layer and attached the vellum using two little brads which I coloured using two different red Sharpie markers to get the colour I needed.  I added small fabric snowflakes to the brads. Very handy to be able to customize white brads to whatever colour you need for your project.
Therese

Christmas Thank you cards

 As I mentioned in this post, I like to use gift wrap from the gifts I have received to make my thank you cards.  It uses up something that might in some cases be recycled but it also helps me to remember all the beautiful gifts I have been given.  

For these cards, I used the gift wrap off of the gift that my sister gave me. It was a beautiful silver, gray and gold metallic gift wrap that featured pine branches, holly and pine cones.  I started by cutting the non damaged areas into six 4"x 4" squares.  I ripped or cut these pieces into a variety of shapes and glued them to gray card fronts.  Once I had cut the pieces I realized that I could cut the smaller pieces I needed from the scraps I had left over so I made two more cards using light yellow cards fronts.  I used Corel Draw to design my greetings and printed them onto vellum.  I cut them apart, ripped, punched or cut their edges and then gold embossed pine branches (SU) on their edges.  I laid the greetings over my backgrounds and attached them to the card fronts using two tiny gold brads.

As you can see, I have used a variety of layouts for gluing down my background/gift wrap pieces. It was fun to play and come up with different patterns.  Love the cards I made up!!!

Therese

 

Winter birthday

Making a card for a guy with a winter birthday and enjoys spending time outside!!  I used a background I made using watercolour and plastic wrap which I found in my stash which simulates a northern sky fairly well.  I added two strips of ripped white cardstock to simulate snowbanks and mounted this element to the front of a speckled navy blue card.  I added a little green tree which is made from green handmade paper and was cut with a Sizzix Movers and Shapers.  I decided to add the little "be happy" greeting (SU) instead of a traditional greeting because he is a very creative and a non conventional kind

of guy.  I found this little "mustache" in my punched shapes from last winter. When I bought the paisley punch I decided to punch a bunch of them from different book and magazine pages and had not really discovered until today that I had missed getting the whole shape in some of them and they were still stuck together.  When I opened them up I thought they looked very much like a mustache and they have been all the rage in cardmaking for the last while.  Several people had used the mustache in conjunction with "staching" through the snow in Christmas cards.  I thought it would work very appropriately for his card being as he is an avid photographer and will no doubt be trudging through the snow for the next few months on his photo shoots.
I am hoping to be a little more original with my cards this year and this certainly fits that goal!!

Therese

Fabric postcard with a stitched flower

On my Fabric Postcard group, I have joined the birthday club.  We are committing to sending a postcard to each person in the group for their birthday.  I joined so I could spread out over the year the fun of making these fabric postcards and I wanted to be able to spend some time getting them ready.  Thankfully, the list owner made us aware that for our postcards to arrive on time for the those with January birthdays we needed to get them ready in December!!  Good point!  So along with Christmas preparations I have been working on and off on the two postcards I need for January.  

For this one I pieced some small scraps into two lengths and sewed them together and then realized that I was short on one side so I added a long strip to make up what I needed to get 4" x 6".  I stamped the plaid fabric in red ink with "be happy" which is a good sentiment for birthdays.  I added some batting on the back and stitched in the ditch on all of my seams in black thread.  I created my flower using scraps as well.  I stitched two together, cut the square in half and restitched it then cut out my largest circle - about 3".  The medium one is about 1.5" and the smallest is just under 1".  I hand cut some leaves from some green fabric and then added some fusible webbing to the back of each piece.  I started with the leaves, positioning them and ironing them into place.  I layered the flower starting with the largest and finishing with the smallest.  I stitched all the way around each piece using the buttonhole stitch in black thread. I love the contrast.  I added a stabilizing layer and backer which I had fused together and then added black bias tape all the way around.  Very happy with how this one turned out.  I will be mailing it in time for it to arrive to my swap partner for her birthday in January.  

Therese

Christmas Thank you card!

I have started making Thank you cards for the blessings we have received this holiday season.  I like to use gift wrap from the gifts we have received to make the cards.
I really liked this swirly snowflake paper so I started with it.  I cut a piece to fit nicely on a 4" x 5.25" piece of white cardstock and added a beautiful ribbon to the middle then tied a short piece to the left hand side to simulate a bow.  I glued this element to the front of a red card.  I created a layered greeting using a punched greeting (WTSHTF) embellished with three little red rhinestones and a green circle.  Adhered it to the front of the card with 3D foam tape!!  One down, several more to go!  Therese

Card with an artsy scrap paper background

I created this artsy background using scraps of paper.
I have a little basket on my desk where I put paper scraps that are leftover from my paper crafting projects.  I often dip into it when I am looking for just a bit of something to add to my projects.  When the basket is full I transfer it to my Serendipity background box where technically the scraps are supposed to be sorted into bags to be used for making serendipity backgrounds.  Needless to say, the sorting into bags does not get done every time the basket gets emptied.  For this background, I simply dug through the top of the box and found some similarly coloured papers, ripped them into strips and glued them to a cardstock substrate.  Quick and easy!!  I trimmed the background in half and used it on this card so I have another half to use another time!!
I added a bit of sponging to the edges of the background, the scalloped circle and the image.  When I watercoloured the image the sponging was pretty much incorporated into the colour which was fine.  When I positioned the background on the card front and auditioned the rest of the pieces there was a round motif on the right hand side just below the seam binding which was too prominent so I used a bit of sand paper to rough up that spot and when I sponged that area over I decided it would not hurt to do the whole thing so it all got a bit of brown ink.  I stitched the background to my kraft card front using my sewing machine and brown thread.  I added a length of brown seam binding over which I added my focal element and then tied on a short piece on the left to simulate a bow.  The focal element was created by layering my watercoloured image (CLKER) with brown and then gluing it to a burned orange scalloped circle to which I had added some faux stitching.  I watercoloured the greeting with a bit of brown and glued it to the focal element below the geese.  I really like the look of this artsy background and will be making more for use in this year's cardmaking.  

Christmas gift - a "Love is..." calendar

Calendars are such perfect Christmas gifts - they last all year, are useful and everyone can find a place for one!!
I created this one this week for a special person on my gift list.  I did create one like it last year so it was fairly quick to get it made up because all the work had already been done.  I laser printed the images onto heavyweight paper and trimmed them to size.  I glued them to the top sections of six 8.5"x 5.5"pieces of red cardstock.  I printed a calendar which I downloaded from on line and trimmed out the months and glued them below the images.  There is a month on each side of six pieces of cardstock which are held together with a little red bull clip.
Easy to hang or can be positioned with a magnet and it is a simple matter of flipping the pages as the new months arrive.
This image is of my hands holding coffee beans!!  I love it!!  The other photos were downloaded from The Morgue File.  
I will be planning on making calendars this coming year for giving next Christmas!!

Therese

A few more all occasion cards

These were created from card kits I had left over from this cardmaking class.  It is fun to play with images and card orientations to make different looking cards.  These feature a full background, a layered focal image and ribbon.  The one on the left features a full circle greeting/image combination from Birds Cards and the large oak tree is from Arthur's Clipart.  In both cases, I watercoloured the laser printed digital image before layering it onto the scalloped circle.  I added a greeting on the right hand one using a word window (SU) layered over a Modern label punchie  (SU).  

Therese